Treasury Department Guidelines Clarify ACA Requirements

February 18, 2014

Regulations that clarify employer responsibility under the Affordable Care Act -- in particular, how the ACA applies to small businesses and whether certain part-time and full-time workers must have insurance coverage -- were issued last week by the U.S. Department of Treasury.

The guidelines specify that firms with 100 or more full-time employees will have to comply with the ACA next year while companies with 50 to 99 employees will have to comply starting in 2016.

Compliance will mean offering coverage to 70 percent of full-time workers next year and to 95 percent starting in 2016.

The final regulations issued also clarified that volunteers, such unpaid emergency responders and firefighters, are not considered full-time employees. It was also made clear that teachers and other school employees who don't work during the summer cannot be considered part-time;

Other parts of the regulations address how the ACA applies to seasonal workers and students in work-study programs.